A day after the midterm elections, misinformation about the results is zeroing in on Pennsylvania and Arizona. In Pennsylvania, baseless allegations are spreading about delays in vote counting.
One of the most harmful aspects about misinformation about voting and elections is that it can erode faith in democracy itself.
That's true whether the candidates pushing misleading claims about elections win or lose, and especially concerning when it comes to candidates for secretary of state or other offices that have power over elections, said Bret Schafer a senior fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy, a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan organization that tracks misinformation.
"If they lose, that just reaffirms beliefs that the whole thing is rigged," he said. "And if they win, you have people running elections who have pretty wild thoughts about how elections should be run." Several Republican candidates running for secretary of state positions had supported Trump's failed efforts to overturn his 2020 loss. Results from Tuesday's electionIt will take days or even weeks to begin to gauge the the true impact of misinformation on Election Day and the weeks leading up to it, Starbird said. But early assessments suggest there was slightly less overall online engagement with viral, misleading content about elections and voting.
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